For Bears and Mitch Trubisky, 2018 offseason takes QB market places it's never been before

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It’s a “problem” the Bears would very, very much like to have. But it’s gonna cost ‘em.

The 2018 NFL offseason has produced a succession of quarterback contracts that landed with shock waves that rippled into each other. Looking several years into the future, these project to form some of the structural components of what the Bears hope will be a well-deserved historic contract for Mitch Trubisky after the 2020 season.

Rising dollars in sports contracts is not news; inflation, salary cap increases, negotiating leverage, all push contract amounts up, not unlike how real-estate prices seemed to before 2008.

Trubisky signed his current four-year contract last July, a deal that automatically comes with the fifth-year option incorporated in rookie contracts for first-round selections, which Trubisky obviously was (No. 2 overall).

The Bears of course haven’t had great luck with fifth-year options, or more to the point, with first-round picks. Too many of those option decisions have been dismally easy: Gabe Carimi, Shea McClellin, Kyle Fuller, Kevin White – all fifth-year declinees, with only Kyle Long (2013) the only Bears No. 1 this decade having his option picked up. Leonard Floyd’s comes up for consideration about this time next year.

Big picture of course, if the Bears picking up Trubisky’s option isn’t a fait accompli long before it comes due, then other major issues will have come to the fore, not the least of which will be the status of GM Ryan Pace, but that’s for another time.

In the meantime, consider the tremors that have reverberated across the quarterback landscape:

The Garoppolo whopper

 The Jimmy Garoppolo situation has been its own high drama even before he was dealt by the New England Patriots to the San Francisco last October. But his contract situation has taken that to a different level.

The 49ers gave Jimmy Garoppolo the biggest contract in NFL history back in February -- $137.5 million over five years – for someone with a total of seven NFL starts. Granted all resulted in victories but that’s barely half of how many Trubisky started last year. Not bad for a fifth-year “option” for a player coming out of a rookie contract that didn’t include that option because of Garoppolo being a 2014 second-round pick of the New England Patriots.

Cousins: See’ya and raise ya’

 Not to be outdone, in March, another epic milestone was reached.

For reasons apart from the money, the Kirk Cousins deal with the Minnesota Vikings broke new ground with $84 million fully guaranteed over three years – this after six NFL seasons, vs. the five Trubisky currently projects to have under his rookie contract and its fifth-year option. The real impact of the shock wave produced by the Cousins deal was its complete guarantee, something that agent Mike McCartney engineered and which some project will become the standard for quarterback contracts as it currently is with most MLB and NBA contracts, and which pro football has largely been able to keep out. Cousins had the leverage of being an unrestricted free agent, something that Trubisky can only become after that fifth year as the situation is currently.

Trubisky already has felt the effects of escalation in quarterback pricing: The $29,032,424 of his four-year rookie deal is, like Cousins’ mega-deal, is fully guaranteed.

A new zenith from Matty Ice

The title of “NFL’s biggest,” however, is nothing if not fluid.

Matt Ryan breached the $30 million barrier with his five-year, $150-million extension from the Atlanta Falcons. And this while Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are still eyeing each other, albeit with Rodgers still with two years remaining on his Green Bay contract.

Trubisky playing his way into earning that fifth-year option is really the point. Jameis Winston (Tampa Bay) and Marcus Mariota (Tennessee) had theirs picked up last month at $20.9 million. That figure will be a couple years more expensive when Trubisky’s turn comes.

For now, Trubisky at about $7.3 million per year for the next four ideally will be one of the Bears’ great bargains, even with a $20-plus-million option in 2021. In the wake of contractual goings-on at his position this offseason, 2022 projects to be historic for Trubisky. And for the Bears.

The Bears certainly hope so.

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